Wednesday, 16 April 2014

Ponyfic Roundup no. 4

And here we go again! Before I forget, let me mention that there probably won't be a Ponyfic Roundup next week: I'm taking it as my Easter break! I do intend to return, though, since I'm rather enjoying these things. I've even set up a Calibre library purely to keep track of ponyfics; it only contains around 40 stories so far, but I'm sure it'll end up being a great deal larger than that! Anyway, without further ado, here are this week's five stories:

Autumn of love[sic] by TokusatsuKuuga-RXApplejack and OCRomance; 1,057 words; Nov 2013; Everyone
I'll admit it: I read this story because it had a 1:38 like:dislike ratio and I wanted to see if it was really that bad. And... yes. It is. It's a shipfic in which "a young Alicorn named TokusatsuKuuga-RX" (yes, really) falls in love with Applejack. It's actually quite an achievement to break so many ponyfic rules a fraction of the way into such a short story. The formatting is weird, too, with some highly distracting line breaks. It doesn't get zero, though, simply because it's actually been spellchecked. 1/10

A Filly's Guide to Not Making Headlines by BradelApplejack, Rarity, Twilight, CMC and OCComedy/Slice of Life; 8,218 words; Jun 2013; Everyone
Newly-crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle needs to learn something about international diplomacy – so Rarity (with the dubious assistance of the CMC) sets out to teach her. This takes a little while to get going, and the CMC themselves don't entirely convince, though Rarity's characterisation is excellent. Lots of fun later on, though, and some clever wordplay (with griffons!) is a bonus. An odd decision to call an in-story newspaper the Equestria Daily, though! 7.5/10

This is a Story You Will Never Read by CynewulfTwilightSlice of Life; 3,865 words; Feb 2013; Everyone
Yes, that Cynewulf: the FIMFiction story approver! This is something a little different: you might call it "observational slice of life", a subgenre for which Twilight is a good choice of lead character. The descriptions of Twi's thoughts aren't always entirely smooth, but I think that's deliberate: she's a pony whose thoughts (especially in her unicorn days, as here) were sometimes rather choppy. One intrusive real-world reference in a pony's name. I don't think I'd want to read fics like this very often, but as a reflective change of pace this is interesting. 8/10

Let's be honest, you can probably guess the basic plot of this story once you've noted the title and the featured ponies. It sticks with the "Scootaloo is an orphan" headcanon that has been strained a bit recently, and there's nothing here that will make your eyes widen with surprise. But considering this is Lovepugkate's first fanfic, I think it's a decent one. A few typos, but it's a cute little thing and I have a terrible weakness for cute Scoots fics. 6/10

When It Was In Color by Kajuaru(author known as Mister McMuffin at review time)Rainbow DashSad; 1,146 words; Oct 2013; Teen
A "what if?" story which deals with the aftermath of Rainbow failing to get into the Wonderbolts. It's fairly well done: not perfect, but the flow is okay and the idea is quite interestingly explored. It has a satisfying ending, too. I did feel that one significant plot point was rather out of character for a certain pony (not Dash) and that its ramifications weren't explored sufficiently. There was the odd typo, but this is worth a glance. The Teen rating isn't really necessary, though. 6.5/10